Ragin Cajuns Win 5th Straight, Dominate Red Wolves

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns are now in sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt Conference after defeating the Arkansas State Red Wolves 23-7 Tuesday night.

Playing in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN2, the Cajuns showed the nation what a physically dominating performance looks like.

Defensively, Louisiana picked up where they left off in last week's win over Western Kentucky. How dominating? In 9 possessions, Arkansas State was held to 6 punts, an interception, a turnover on downs, and one touchdown that came on a short field after a turnover.

The Red Wolves only had the ball 3 times in the second half, for a total of 5:46. Read that again. 5:46 in a half of play. Simply put, Arkansas State could do nothing against a stalwart Cajuns defense.

TJ Worthy led Louisiana in tackles with 11, including 6 solo, and 1 tackle for loss. Justin "Juice" Hamilton reeled in 2 sacks and 4 tackles total, and safety Sean Thomas reeled in an interception.

Louisiana held the ball for 24:14 in the 2nd half, playing with a double-digit lead throughout. They won the time of possession battle 42:18-17:42.

Offensively, the Cajuns put together long drives of 77, 86, 73, 71, and 70 yards. UL's offense ran the last nine minutes of the game off the clock on their final possession (Arkansas State also called 3 timeouts on the drive)

Louisiana's offensive line continues to impose their will, helping the Cajuns establish the best "ball control" offense in the Sun Belt.

The Cajuns grinded out 265 rushing yards, with freshmen Elijah McGuire (pictured above) using 10 carries to rack up 110 yards. Alonzo Harris was the workhorse for UL, carrying the rock 29 times for 110 yards. He scored both of Louisiana's touchdowns.

“Our running game continues to excel,” Hudspeth told Steve Peloquin after the win. “Alonzo and Elijah did a great job of moving the chains and holding on to the football. We need to continue to lift hard, practice hard and play hard because that’s why in a game like this, we could run the ball when they knew that we were going to run the ball."

Terrance Broadway had a solid night through the air, going 18-28 for 205 yards. Jamal Robinson was his favorite target, as he caught 7 balls for 107 yards.

Kicker Stephen Brauchle added 3 field goals, and the Cajuns had more than enough points to improve to 5-2.

“That was a Ragin’ Cajuns victory. It was a total team effort against a very good ball club," said a happy Hudspeth. "They were focused and ready to go from the start and they weren’t going to let down."